Hallo

Grad school, over (well, not technically until grades come in, but it's pretty much done).
Christmas decorating, almost done.
Getting our home and lives back in order, in progress.

And part of that getting-back-in-order process is returning to this place. I made a few changes while procrastinating, er, taking breaks from grad school this semester, but there may be a few more coming. I have a small gaggle of books to be reviewed here, as well as children's ones to request because those are my favorite to review. I have a lot of life to share with y'all through pictures, including some taken with my new fancy schmancy DSLR (for you photog nerds, it's a Canon t2i with the following lenses: a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, the Canon 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 that came with the camera as the kit lens, and a 55-250mm f/4-5.6, as well as Lee's dad's Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro that I try not to covet, er, I mean use whenever I can get my hands on it. I have an amazing friend from high school, Al, who is a professional photographer in Vegas who helped me figure out what I wanted in a camera, even when it meant pointing me toward Canon when his preference is Nikon). I have written several notes in various places that will become encouraging or silly or serious posts that I'm looking forward to sharing with you.

It's gonna be fun. I'm looking forward to life after grad school. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with each of you.

So here are my favorite guys saying, "Hallo!" (which is how the little man - the one with a scraped up nose in this shot from diving headfirst into a toy bin at church - says hello, kind of like a combination of the male name Hal and the word low).

And, by the way, if you want to catch coffee* or have a playdate sometime soon, my schedule is refreshingly open. I've neglected many a friendship during grad school, and I'm looking forward to seeking forgiveness for that and rebuilding in places where it's needed.

*Two disclaimers here: (1) I am only currently open to going to coffee places with parking near the door. If I have to walk much in this weather, I will get hypothermia or exposure or whatever you want to call it. Remember that I am a Florida girl at heart. and (2) Because I know some of you (*cough* Jenelle *cough*), I must add this: I do agree that it's best to use a cup to catch coffee and that it's probably not wise to play catch with hot beverages. So what other sarcastically literal or puntastic comments do you have for me? 

Confession

My laptop currently has 8.0kb free. We have network-based data storage. I just haven't been using it.

Oops.

(Alternate title: "Why my computer issues can't be used to fuel the Mac vs. PC arguments, because I could manage to mess up an Apple product just as effectively as a PC. Just saying." Or "Guess what I'm doing right now? Yep, deleting old files and moving others off my laptop." Or "Ways I exasperate my husband.")

randomness

1. I have submitted my thesis to my full committee. I will present and defend it a week from today. I am almost giddy at how close to being done I am! (Mostly because it's almost done, and a little because I know my graduation gift will be a fancy schmancy DSLR camera that I've been salivating over for more than a year.)

2. I'm sick right now with some sore throaty gunk. Boo.

3. I don't have much Christmas shopping left. I never thought I would be one of those who finished before December, but I'm close. Hmm, maybe I'll even get Christmas cards out before Christmas this year...
nah. That's just crazy talk.

4. We have really wonderful neighbors. They have two middle school and one high school daughter, and all three of their girls love our kids. They bless us regularly in so many ways. A few weeks ago, Maureen was positioned to have a quiet evening to herself, and she instead offered to have the kids come over for the evening so we could have a date night. They have a dog which is enough to make our little guy happy, and they have lots of little girly toys, so the girl was pleased. Maureen even took our picture at her house before we left. It's rare that we get a picture with both of us in it! :)

5. Remember the couch I posted here a couple weeks ago? The World Market sectional? We were going to get it when I realized that some of the construction of it wasn't the greatest. So back to the drawing board...

6. Our sweet girl has started posing for pictures like this. She says it looks beautiful. While I agree that she looks beautiful, I think the pose looks like she's ready for bed.

7. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year for Lee's family, and it's made me think about what foods I love that make it Thanksgiving for me. For example, if there's no turkey, it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving. And I need pumpkin something. And mashed potatoes sans gravy because I think gravy is glorified toilet water.

sooooooo what foods make Thanksgiving for you?
(And do you have any good turkey cooking tips? 'Cause I've never made one before, and I'm a bit intimidated by the big bird in my fridge.)

living gently in a violent world requires Christ

As I've immersed myself in disability theology, I am discovering more and more that those who have studied and written about it don't believe in basic doctrines like the inerrancy of the Bible or the sufficiency of the Gospel. This isn't true for all, and occasionally I'll be highlighting churches and theologians who do it well, as well as practical how-to books that are helpful. It's those - the practical guides - that usually have solid theology, but those aim to answer the "how" of disability ministry not the "why."

And it's the "why" that's sadly missing a Gospel-saturated voice, at least in the works I've reviewed. In the absence of Gospel-rich theology, I have to be careful to heed the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:21, testing everything and grasping hold of what is true and good.

That's how I approached Living Gently in a Violent World by Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier. It's a slim resource that's part of a series called Resources for Reconciliation in partnership with Duke Divinity School's Center for Reconciliation. Each of the reconciliation resources is a short book that is co-written by a theologian (in this case, Hauerwas, a professor at Duke who was named America's best theologian by Time magazine in 2001) and a practicing ministry worker (in this case, Vanier, the founder of L'Arche). I like that approach. It can be far too easy for the thinkers and the doers to be disconnected.

Vanier founded L'Arche in France, and it is now an international network of communities that join together people with and without intellectual disabilities. They live together and eat together and talk together and do life together. The realities of disabilities aren't ignored, as some of the folks living in L'Arche communities do have extensive special needs, but the stigma of disability is virtually non-existent in L'Arche.

As I read about L'Arche in this book and in other research I've done, it makes me think about how little children rarely mae a big deal about a peer's disability. Sure, they notice a difference, but then they get over it.

I found this quote interesting (from the introduction by John Swinton):

L'Arche shows, as the church is called to show, that Christianity is true by demonstrating what community would look like if the gospel were true. Unlike learning moral principles, following Jesus requires a change of heart. "The very content of Christian connections requires the self to be transformed if we are adequately to see the truth of [its] convictions." L'Arche is a sign of hope and new possibilities, but above all it is a marker for the truth of the gopel; it is living proof that the story Christians bear is not fantasy or a collection of abstract principles but real and true and revealed clearly. When we view L'Arche this way, we begin to see how the question, "What does L'Arche mean for the church?" might have implications far beyond the idea that disability theology is a "specialist interest." It is the heart of the gospel.

While I would argue that Christ is the heart of the Gospel and not any specific ministry attitude or action, I do agree that the Gospel demands that we not marginalize people with disabilities as separate from or less than the rest of the body of Christ. We don't do disability ministry out of obligation or pity; it's vital because every person created by God bears His image and has inherent worth.

To put it another way, let's check out Matthew 28:18-20

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

There isn't a side note here specifying an IQ limit. There isn't a point of clarification that we shouldn't bother teaching those who don't learn like everyone else. Nope. The command to go and make disciples and baptize and teach isn't a command to only do those things to certain groups. All nations includes those who are foreign to us in far-reaching lands...and just down the street.


While I agree with them on the importance of disability ministry, where I diverge from Hauerwas and Vanier is in the execution. I believe our calling is the Great Commission, the verses above. It's about understanding that people with disabilities are part of "all nations" and figuring out what it mean and looks like to put it into practice. Meanwhile, Hauerwas and Vanier seem to put disability ministry first and the Great Commission second. Most L'Arche communities are interfaith, and a requirement is tolerance of all religions. One - Christianity or any other - can't be exalted as the right one. Their community is Bangladesh began with Hindus and Muslims (p. 24). They almost weren't allowed to set up a community in Rome because Vanier, while Roman Catholic, wouldn't agree to restrict it to Catholicism or even Christianity (p. 28). The group in Kuwait is identified as a Muslim group that also welcomes people of other faiths (p. 27).


To me, that ceases to be disability ministry. If it's about love and compassion and community apart from Christ, then it's just social services or non-profit charity. 

Vanier writes, "...there are many complexities in L'Arche. 'Good' religious people don't always come to us; we get the ones who don't quite know what it means to be a 'good' religious person and who will discover simply that to be a Christian is to grow in compassion" (p. 28). While compassion is part of Christianity, I would challenge him to provide biblical support for that statement. Christians should grow in compassion, but being a Christian is about treasuring and submitting to Christ who transforms us so that we can show compassion to others. It's Christ first and always, then compassion.

He (Vanier) talks about "living in a gospel-based community with people with disabilities" (p. 34-35). Hauerwas discusses living out the Christian life alongside people with disabilities as an expression of hope (p. 45). As I pondered those things, I thought about how wonderful it would be to see a community similar to what Vanier has created and describes in this book. Rather than a community that is just gospel-based but then all-embracing of even those religious ideas that contradict the Gospel, though, I would love to see one that is Gospel-based, Gospel-centered, and Gospel-driven.

I know those exist, and in the next year or two I'm going to be researching and visiting some churches and community that could be described in that way. In the words of Psalm 133:1, "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!"

Many thanks to the folks at InterVarsity Press for providing Living Gently in a Violent World for my review. They asked for nothing other than my honest opinion of it.

*Edited to add this postscript: If you're interested in another review of this book from a similar viewpoint, I just found this one by Trevin Wax.

A birthday girl, lightly floured

About a month ago, our friends Jenelle and Leiana came over for us to celebrate L's birthday. We put up steamers and hang a (previously used for Jocelyn's second birthday) Nemo banner. We busted out some Nemo party hats from the same birthday. And, in lieu of balloons, I printed pictures of balloons for Jocelyn to color.

And, of course, we poured flour on the floor.

What?!?

That's not part of your birthday party routine?

Okay, okay, it isn't usually part of ours either. But it was on October 20th. I blame it on Gretchen's s'more brownies. (In a word: amazing.) I didn't feel like making cake, but I had the fixin's for the goodness of the brownies. We made them. And then Jenelle and I slipped into a mashmallow-y chocolate-y coma for a few moments.

Which was just long enough for Robbie to grab a bag of flour out of the pantry. As Jenelle and I made nom nom nom murmurings in praise to God for the goodness that is s'more brownies, he and Leiana brought the bag into the middle of the kitchen. We observant mommas didn't notice. They opened it. We didn't notice. They began taking out handfuls of flour and dumping them on the floor.

And then I noticed. I shouted something and scooped Robbie up. Jenelle went for the birthday girl. I tried to figure out the best way to corral the kids with the fewest tears while one of us could clean the mess.

And in a moment of complete and total surrender desire to get back to be brownies acknowledgment of the fun the kids would have, I asked Jenelle, "What's the worst thing that could happen if we just let them play?"

So we went back to the brownies. And enjoyed this for entertainment.

 

You can see some chocolate around L's mouth below, proof that we did share the brownies with the kids.

I know this last picture isn't fantastic quality, but do you see the lightly floured birthday girl? The big girl licking flour from the floor? The little guy shouting in excitement?

It captures the day well.

A picture of the snow angels they made with flour might have captured it even better, but I failed to get any decent ones of that. I might have had better pictures with less blur, but I was distracted. Did I mention the brownies?